Magnesium is the fourth most abundant
mineral in the body and is essential to good health. Approximately 50% of total
body magnesium is found in bone. The other half is found predominantly inside
cells of body tissues and organs. Only 1% of magnesium is found in blood, but
the body works very hard to keep blood levels of magnesium constant.

Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It
helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, keeps heart rhythm steady,
supports a healthy immune system, and keeps bones strong. Magnesium also helps
regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure, and is known to be
involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis.
There is an increased interest in the role of magnesium in preventing and
managing disorders such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Dietary magnesium is absorbed in the small intestines. Magnesium is excreted
through the kidneys.What
foods provide magnesium?

Green vegetables such as spinach are good
sources of magnesium because the center of the chlorophyll molecule (which gives
green vegetables their color) contains magnesium. Some legumes (beans and peas),
nuts and seeds, and whole, unrefined grains are also good sources of magnesium.
Refined grains are generally low in magnesium.
When white flour is refined and processed, the magnesium-rich germ and bran are
removed. Bread made from whole grain wheat flour provides more magnesium than
bread made from white refined flour. Tap water can be a source of magnesium, but
the amount varies according to the water supply. Water that naturally contains
more minerals is described as "hard". "Hard" water contains
more magnesium than "soft" water.

Marginal primary magnesium deficit affects a large proportion of the population
(15 to 20%), in keeping with a daily mean magnesium intake slightly over 4 mg/kg
day versus the Mg RDA of 6 mg/kg day.

Magnesium and heart
disease

When one sweats, a
significant amount of magnesium is lost. Magnesium is the most under-recognized
electrolyte disorder in the U.S. Dr. Mildred Seelig, one of the country's
leading authorities on magnesium suggests that 80%-90% of the population is
deficient is magnesium

It is beyond the extent
of this article why the public is being denied the truth of the seriousness of
magnesium deficiency and sudden death. The amount of medical research could fill
a book, but it is unfortunately being ignored.

According to Michael A.
Brodsky M.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and
the director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service at the University of California..
mineral imbalances interfere with the heart's normal nerve function.

While most athletes have
been conditioned to drink a potassium rich drink after sweating.. very few have
been educated on the dangers of a magnesium deficiency. Dr. Brodsky states that
arrhythmia therapy should focus on replenishing two key minerals: potassium and
magnesium.

Almost all physicians
have known for some time just how vital potassium is for normal heartbeat.
Magnesium is an entirely different story, however. According to Carla Sueta
M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and cardiology at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine "apparently, many doctors
still don't realize how important a role this mineral can play in some heart
patients. In fact, most never check the magnesium level. She has shown through
her research that magnesium reduced the incidence of several types of
ventricular arrhythmia by 53 to 76 percent.

Magnesium
deficiency can be induced by the very drugs meant to help heart problems. Some
types of diuretics (water pills) cause the body to excrete both magnesium and
potassium, as does digitalis. And magnesium deficiency is often at the bottom of
what's called refractory potassium deficiency. The amount of magnesium in the
body determines the amount of a particular enzyme that determines the amount of
potassium in the body," he explains. So if you are magnesium-deficient, you
may in turn be potassium-deficient, and no amount of potassium is going to
correct this unless you are also getting enough magnesium.

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